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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365075">The Strange One and The Lady Knight's Reunion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Futsin/pseuds/Futsin'>Futsin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Evil Dead (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:35:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,759</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Futsin/pseuds/Futsin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>With the help of a magical crystal, Ash and Sheila communicate between space and time, only for Sheila to discover that the aftermath of their battle with the Army of Darkness was not as final as they had originally thought.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sheila/Ash Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Strange One and The Lady Knight's Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/gifts">Missy</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The castle was colder that winter than Sheila could ever remember it being before. She tried to ignore the reason that was constantly ringing in her head as to why, wrapped in her shawl, cloak, and blanket all at once. She looked at the moonlit window of her room and wondered as to the fate of the man, the ignoble knight who had earned her love, yet saw fit to abandon her to his own time. She cursed him in silence and shivered again, before glancing over to the crystal on the table, and her eyes went wide.</p><p>It was glowing. He finally had found it? He had decided to use it?</p><p>She leapt from her bed and cast away the warm wrappings that impeded her movement, and quickly clutched the gem the wise man had given her. She held it to her bosom and took a deep breath, thinking hard as she remembered doing before to test the enchanted item. <strong><em>Ash.</em></strong> She thought it again and again, until suddenly she heard a shout return to her. <em>OKAY, SHEILA, I GOT IT! What?! What do you want?!</em></p><p>His brutish tone startled her and she nearly dropped the glowing purple crystal, if not for the thought in her mind of hitting him in the head with a rock again. <em>Hey!</em> his thoughts from beyond time and space replied, <em>YOU were the one who threw that?! </em>And she thought her reply:</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Of course! And I’d do it again for how cruel you can be!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>She felt, rather than heard him think, <em>what the hell is this, some kind of magic radio gizmo?</em></p><p><em>Did you not read my note?</em> Sheila was certain she’d wrapped the gem in a note before stashing it away in the “glovebox” (his words) of his vehicle.</p><p>
  <em>Oh-uh, yeah, well, I uh… I skimmed it. Kind of. It was hard to read.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Was my calligraphy not right? I stayed up an entire night writing it again and again.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>No-no-no, it was great. Beautiful. Just uh, little hard to understand, back in my time, we have a little more… efficiency?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I meant every word, Ash. I knew every moment you would be far from me I could not bear. When I went to the Wise Man, I gave him my deepest plea for mercy from this pain. We must thank him for thi-</em>
  </strong>
</p><p><em>Sheila! </em>he interrupted her. He would keep her from <em>thinking</em>, not just <em>speaking</em>? She quickly exasperated and started going back to bed, pulling her shawl, cloak, and blanket in bunches around her free arm.</p><p><em>Sheila, </em>Ash continued from the future,<em> I overslept. I… I think I took too many drops.</em></p><p>Sheila stopped. <em><strong>What?</strong> </em>she inquired, having felt the terror in his thoughts, his words. The connection between them now was growing, she could practically hear his breath.</p><p>
  <em>I’m 100 years too late. The whole world, it’s-it’s gone, Sheila. I’m staring at Big Ben and it’s London Bridges Falling Down.</em>
</p><p>She had no idea the reference he made, but the first part, that she understood. She felt her warm wrappings falling from her fingers. <strong><em>You are trapped,</em></strong> she thought, feeling it in him.</p><p><em>Yeah. I guess I am.</em> He sighed. <em>God, it’s good to hear your voice. I haven’t seen anybody good or alive in weeks. They’re all evil or dead, or evil and dead. I don’t know what to do. Can you put that old bearded guy on the line? Can you get him for me? Please?</em></p><p>Sheila quickly grabbed her cloak and threw it around herself, still clutching the gem to not cease the connection. She ran from her room and hurried across the castle keep.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I’m going to him now, Ash. Just hold on. Are you safe, m’lord? Are you with water, food?  Warmth?</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Yeah, I’ve got some juice for my car, so I’m staying warm in the cave. There’s still a few stores around. Even had an S-Mart here at some point… I wonder if my employee discount still applies. Traded some freak with half his face missing for my Fangoria, so that took care of the water.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Really, I don’t have any idea what you are talking about most of the time. This crystal, it should be able to show me what you see. Show you what I see. Maybe you could show me, what it is these things all are.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Honestly, baby, you don’t want none of what my eyes are eating up right now. You ever heard of Hieronymus Bosch?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I cannot say I have, m’lord.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh, musta been past your time. Uh, let’s just say he knew what Hell looks like.<br/>
</em>
</p><p>She ceased replying to him as she found the wise man’s old door with a sign that read, “No Magic After Midnight,” and rapped on it. With a creak and a grouchy squinting scowl on the old man’s face, it opened. He peered up at her. “Sheila, what is it now? Another nightmare?” She shook her head and held up the glowing crystal still in her fingers. His eyes went full wide. “My God, it worked. Is he-?” But her face said many things to him, stopping his question. He understood. “The strange one needs our help.”</p>
<hr/><p>Two hours later, Sheila was sitting in the front area of the wise man’s chambers, while in a back room he was working away on looking through book after book, from the Necronomicon to scriptures written in parchment that seemed even more ancient somehow. Trying to find something, anything, that would or could help them. The potion itself worked one way, forwards, and had sent Ashley J. Williams from the 13th century to the late 21st century, a world ravaged by dark monstrosities. Such a terrible truth was hard to swallow for the old man, while all Sheila could think of was her love was alone. He had won the day and saved them, had garnered reward and earned respect. This was not something he deserved, to be thrust into another fight, with none but his own wit and weapons to combat the armies of darkness once more. He was alone.</p><p>She held the crystal tight. It had gone out suddenly, shortly after she entered the wise man’s chamber and she waited for him to reply, to come back to her. Mid-word, it had just cut out and she felt that emptiness again. She felt chilled to her very bones in a way she had not felt since Evil Ash had taken her in his arms. She closed her eyes and once more shivered, but a warmth arose as words drifted from a time she could not comprehend.</p><p>
  <em>Hey, baby. Miss me?</em>
</p><p>She smiled. <strong><em>Yes, m’lord.</em> </strong>He laughed.<em> I could get used to you feeling that way. I’m sorry about earlier, I had some mischievous rats of unusual size show up on my doorstep. But, on the bright side, I’ll have protein to sustain me for a while. How’s things with the old man? Did you talk to him?</em></p><p>She nodded, only to remember he could not see her. <em><strong>I did. He is looking through his books and scriptures for a clue on what to do about sending you back.</strong> </em></p><p>
  <em>There was that portal thingie in the Necronomicon. What about that? It could send me back there. After all this, I think I could dig being King after all.</em>
</p><p>The wise man finally grabbed the crystal in Sheila’s hand, attempting to wrench it from her, but she would not let it go. She gasped and stared at his intense eyes, only for him to sigh in desperation. She relented, but not before thinking one last thought to the man from one time, who’d come to hers, and disappeared to yet another. <strong><em>The wise man wishes to speak with you. Make sure he gives it back… I have some things to say.</em></strong> She got a quick <em>Yeah, sure </em>in response just as it slipped from her fingers and into the wise man’s.</p><p>He took the crystal and paced around the room, at first concentrating, then rolling his eyes - again and again - and then letting out exasperated breath. Sheila cocked an eyebrow at the wise man, who slumped his shoulders in defeat. “He’s just as blunt and hubristic as always,” the wise man said, “and truly the most difficult man I think I have ever met. Fit to be King, is he.” Sheila shrugged. He had not changed in 700 years, no much surprise there.</p><p>Finally, the wise man was done and passed the crystal back to her. “Go, I need to set about some things in here and I need no distractions. Flip the sign on my door,” he commanded and set about grabbing various items on his shelf. Sheila departed the room, shutting the door behind her, and flipping the sign to its other side, which read, “Wizard Business, Do Not Disturb.”</p><p>As Sheila carried herself back to her room, the freezing winds carried through the halls and she nearly dropped to the ground. <em>Hey, you okay?</em> came from Ash through the crystal.<em><strong> It’s cold here, winter,</strong> </em>she replied. She felt him reply with his own shiver. <em>I can feel it. I’m next to a damn burning carcass and I can feel it,</em> he said, then she sensed him snapping his fingers.<em> Wait a tick, maybe it goes both ways. Hang on, I’m gonna try-</em> and suddenly Sheila’s body warmed, too much all at once, and she grunted.<strong><em> Too much, too much!</em> </strong>she thought at him and rushed as fast as her feet could back to her room, bed, and to the covers. She panted.</p><p><em>Heh, guess I’m too hot to handle, eh? </em>She rolled her eyes at the thought of seeing his cheeky grin leering at her with that. <strong><em>Nay, m’lord, I merely did not feel ready for such a sensation.</em> </strong>There was a pause and her body began to reacquaint itself with her own world, her own time, and the place she was in. She wrapped herself, to snug in bed once more, holding the crystal to her bosom as she breathed steam into the chilled room. The pause of his voice made her tense, but she could still barely notice him, as if something out of sight or reach.</p><p><em>Are you alone right now?</em> he asked with a soft voice.<br/>
<em><strong>I am.</strong><br/>
Somewhere private?<br/>
<strong>Yes.</strong></em><br/>
Another pause. She could sense his breath and a lump in his throat, practically the same if her hands lay across his broad chest.<em><strong> I miss you,</strong> </em>she thought first. She felt his sigh.<em> I miss you, too. Now that I’m here, I don’t know why I left. Guess I am the biggest dummy that ever walked the Earth.</em> She smirked. <strong><em>I cannot disagree.</em></strong></p><p>She felt his laugh and the sensation of his body tightening itself, close, a cool breath in the air above the fire. And with it came the fear. His fear. She wanted to reach out, touch him, hold him in her arms again. <em>Stay with me until I fall asleep? </em>he asked, voice small and child-like. She nodded, again forgetting he could not see her. But he felt her and responded, <em>Thanks. </em></p><p>She couldn’t remember when she fell asleep, but when she awoke, it was the sound of her door being knocked upon. Sheila rose and wiped sleep from her eyes. “Who is it?” A voice came from beyond the door. “The wise man. May I enter, my lady?” She yawned and stretched. Since she’d awoken him in the middle of the night, it only seemed fair. “Yes, you may, wise man.”</p><p>The door swung open and shut in a flurry of movement, and the wise man’s eyes were wide in an effort to stay fully aware under duress. Sheila kept herself covered and watched as he unslung a satchel from his shoulder and poked through its contents.</p><p>“It appears that evil, once again, has arisen. Not now, not in the strange one’s time, but in a time in-between where he was and where he is now,” the wise man started, trembling a bit as he found what he was looking for - a bas-relief . On it, outdents of large monolithic structures. He passed it to Sheila, who could only look upon it with confusion. “These works must surely be of a madman, not a prophet?” she said. The wise man frowned at her, incredulous. “Child, you know the insanity that evil causes in mankind. You have been reborn from it yourself.” Sheila’s throat tightened. She didn’t want to remember that.</p><p>The wise man pointed to the sculpture’s terrible form. “This is where Ash is. But this-“ he pulled a wood-carved sculpture, the size of a forearm, from the satchel. “This is where he must go.” Merely looking at the thing made Sheila nervous, like metal spikes trickling down her spine in a waterfall, and indeed, it did remind her of those times the spirits of the evil dead had possessed her and transformed her into a beastly unholy thing. The sculpture itself was immaculately crafted, fine work, but its imagery of bodily creations malformed into architecture and shapes she did not recognize aroused sensations of dread, impending doom. Though her conscious mind said the imagery and shapes of such things were not known to her, through the shared thoughts of her beloved Ashley, she sensed familiarity with it. The letter S and the word after it finally connected to her when she recognized it, in the midst of the horrible object’s tribute to a potential future. She gasped at the realization.</p><p>“Shop Smart… Shop… S-MART!” she cried. The wise man nodded. “At some point, not too long after the time he was sent to our century, some terrible calamity befell the world and when evil awoke, there was no chosen warrior of good and light to face it. Mankind lost, or will lose, the war with the deadites.” Sheila felt tears welling up in her eyes. She clutched the crystal again, hoping to hear his voice, something to calm the maelstrom building inside her.</p><p>And in that dark pit, she heard it. He had seen the crystal glow and replied to her. <em>Miss me again, baby? </em>She shut her eyes and sobbed. He sensed it. <em>Hey, what’s the matter? You didn’t have to eat atomic deadite rat for lunch. </em>She opened her eyes and looked at the sculpture in the wise man’s hand. Somehow, she could feel his eyes looking at it, too. <em>Oh my God,</em> he spoke to her, <em>that’s it, isn’t it? And I thought working Black Friday at that place was a nightmare. Guess the wizard found a way to send me back to that time, then, huh?</em></p><p>The wise man put away the sculpture and turned his back to Sheila, his shoulders tightened. She could feel his gaze burning a hole into the floor, tired and uncertain. He shifted his weight uncomfortably and she noticed he was trying to work up the courage to propose something. She dreaded the implication, yet the sight still burned in her, that terrible thing. Whatever it was, she would not stop until she’d done all she could to rid the world of its memory. It was then the wise man turned around. “The only way to send Ash back is to master the words of the Necronomicon and its powerful magic. There are spells for grand vortexes, gateways to other worlds, to other times. We must master this power, so that we can bring the book to him.” She nodded, understanding. “Has he been able to see through your eyes when you hold that crystal?” Sheila paused, then nodded again. “He has. Just now.” <em>Tell him I’m not here,</em> Ash thought at her. <strong><em>Shh!</em> </strong>she shushed him.</p><p>It was at this, that Sheila watched the wise man’s eyes finally droop and his shoulders slump. He let go from helplessness, a surrender to what he had to accept as true. He turned around, face grave. “Then it is not me or some knight that must bring the book and its terrifying power to him. It’s you, Lady Sheila. Now, you must train to join him and together, fight back the forces of evil.”</p><p>Sheila felt a queasy feeling in her throat. “Again?” she said, echoing the words she heard Ash say himself, he now able to hear and see what was happening before her. The wise man nodded.</p><p>And so began the journey towards reunion.</p><p>At first, the wise man requested that Sheila focus solely on the scholarly works and fill herself with the Necronomicon’s words to the point that she could understand them her own way. But, as tales from Ash became more dire and his situation continued a desperate development in the parallel timeline, Arthur came to Sheila one night during her study session. He leaned close and put a hand on her shoulder. “What time you can spare, my men and I will train you,” he said in a low tone, just out of earshot of the wise man, who would likely take a jealous turn if he saw his new apprentice being taken aside. She thought it as an offer, in his cadence and unimposing tone, rather than an order. She smiled lightly and nodded.</p><p>The two teachers trained Sheila for several weeks. Regularly, she would communicate with Ashley through the crystal each night, talking of what she learned if she could bear to speak of it, and he would tell her stories. Both of his own time and the one he found himself surviving. As time passed, however, she found his communiques less frequent. He was getting tired, having trouble finding food. She had to hurry things along and doubled her efforts. But no matter what, when she held the crystal and felt him, heard him, even to the point of smelling what she assumed was his hair and breath (which had become more akin to the stench of the jacks); they were moments she took an odd comfort in. She had longed for him, unaware of how much he knew this, until one day he was quiet. She reached out across her cot, as if to find his hand there, and she thought of his metal hand reaching out to touch her face.<em> It means a lot, Sheila, </em>he said.<em> I ache, too. </em>She shed tears and tried to think of what to reply, but he laughed. <em>Hey, now, don’t go crying. I haven’t had a chance to break your heart, yet. </em>And she laughed, too.</p><p>Callouses grew on her hands until she could barely be considered a lady and her intellectual wit grew quickly causing others to keep their distance from her. She was the odd one, despite Arthur and the wise man’s pride in her, and it became something she wrapped up around her like another armor or cloak. Rarely was she challenged in conversation and though alone, she was never lonely. Towards the end of her training, Ash had taken to asking her about childhood, her family, how she had come to be the woman she was. <em>It keeps me sane,</em> he said. <em><strong>Why?</strong> </em>she asked. <em>You can’t imagine what I’m seeing, baby. I don’t want you to. </em>She clutched the crystal so tight in her grip, she wondered if it would crack and tear the world apart.<strong><em> I’m coming, my love. I’m coming for you. </em></strong>She felt him curl by his fire that night like a child.</p><p>Then, he was screaming. Sheila stood up in bed and found the crystal was not in her hand. Its light was not there, the connection should not have been felt. And yet… she heard it come again, terror and pain. Flurry of movements through her room would be the last it’d ever see of her, as she dressed quickly and ran to the wise man, who was reading a book at a window overlooking the courtyard. When the older man’s gaze caught Sheila, he was aghast, surprised. She wore the armor the blacksmith had made her, the sword tied on a belt, and a maroon cloak over her to keep the snowy wind from seeping into her blood. And her face told him everything. It was time.</p><p>Arthur was roused from his quarters and joined the wise man and Sheila on the courtyard grounds. It was the middle of the night and flakes fell from the sky, catching blue shades of moonlight and turning gold from torches staked into the ground. On the ground were relics, holy symbols, accursed objects made pure by light and magic. These were the ways to use the crystal’s divinity to send her to the other gem, far away in space and time, and finally see her beloved strange one again. Sheila paused. The sight of it all, that pure white and the castle walls, the smells and tastes of the air… she tried to hold onto it, knowing this would be goodbye. A hasty farewell and then she’d be off. She looked into the wise man’s eyes as he reminded her of the passages to recite. She nodded, pulling the crystal up on a string it was tied to around her neck. She held it in her hand, its glow growing in brightness until it illumined even the tallest turrets of the castle. There was no burn when she looked at it, though Arthur and the wise man turned from its glare. She stared and recited the passages. Before she was even aware of it, the glow had enveloped her completely, tingling across her skin, causing small lightning to strike across her armor and float her cloak in the air. An electric transition, from one place to another, and she could already feel the ground shift, her legs jostling only slightly. The same sensation of being on a rickety bridge or unstable stone steps. The glow began to dissipate as she finished the last passage she had conducted to memory, whose words and language she understood out of both horror and necessity.</p><p>And once the light cleared, she saw in front of her five warriors garbed in bloody skins and metallic plates torn from objects she could not yet recognize. And beneath their feet, his hands bound and his face bloody, was Ashley J. Williams. The fiends were watching her and Ash turned his weakened head to look at her, a smile coming forth. She said the words he thought, smirking at the humor he was handing her.</p><p>“Hi, honey. I’m home.”</p><p>Then, Sheila drew her sword.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was from a Long-Distance Relationship prompt on my Tumblr back in 2017/2018 or so. Hoping to get back to writing more like this soon!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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